Engine-starting means.



.I. F. TATEN.

ENGINE STARTING MEANS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 29, 1913. RENEWED MAY 8,1915.

1,146,906 Patented July 20, 1915.

COLUMBIA PLANOG c.

.iAcoB r. time, or menu, OHIO.

EivGInE-sTARTfNG 'ivIE'ANs.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jason F. TATEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of liindlay, in the county of Hancock and State of ()hio, have invented a certain new and useful Engine-Starting Means; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, suchas will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the ac? companying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to starting means for internal combustion engines,.and hasI particular reference to means of the kind for use in connection with single-cylinder engines, but is not restricted to such use as it may be employed in any connection for which it may be adapted or appropriate.

The object of my invention is the provision in combination with the combustion end of an engine cylinder, of simple and improved means adapted to carry an igniting agent and is operable to effect an ignition of such agent within the combustion chamber to ignite a charge compressed therein.

The invention is fully described in the following specification, and while, in its broader aspect it is capable of embodment in numerous forms, apreferred embodiment thereof is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a single-cylinder internal combustion engine equipped with my improved starter. Fig.

2- is an enlarged side view of the apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal section therethrough with a part in full and with an igniting agent in operative position. and Fig. 4 is a detail of the inner end portion of the plunger with an igniting agent carried thereby.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the cylinder of an internal combustion engine of any suitable type in which the customary piston 2 works and through the wall of the combustion end of which is provided an opening 3 for the insertion of the device comprising my invention. This device is shown, in the present instance, as comprising a body member l of substantially plug form which has its inner end portion threaded to adapt it to be threaded into the Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 20 1915, Application filed December 29, 1913, Serial No. 809,271. Renewed May 8,

1915. Serial No. 2 8,897.

cylinder opening 3, and is preferably provided at its outer end with a wrench gripping surface 5 of any suitable form to facilitate a turning of thesame into or out of the opening 3. The body 4: is provided therethrough with an axial bore 6, the outer end portion of which is enlarged, as at 7. A yoke part 8 is projected or provided in any suitable manner at the inner end of the body 4 with the loop or cross portion there of in register with the longitudinal center ofthe bore 6.

Rem'o'vabl'y fitted into the outer enlarged portion? of the body here is a plug member 9 Y which shoulders at its inner ,end against the shoulder 7 at the inner end por tion of the bore enlargement 7 and is provided with a circumferential groove 10 into which the inner end of a screw 11 is adapted to seat to retain the plug within the body 4:. Thescrew 11 is threaded through one side of the portion 5 of the body member and is provided at its outer end with a lever handle 12 to. facilitate. a turning thereof. The threads of the screw are of such a pitch as to enable the screw to be turned into or out of locking engagement with the member 9 by a half turn of the attached lever 12.

The plug member 9 has an axial opening therethrough in which a plunger 13 is mounted for free reciprocatory movements, but has a sufficiently close fit therein to prevent an escape of gases therearound from within the cylinder. The plunger 13 has its inner end preferably enlarged to prevent its withdrawal from the plug 9, and such enlargement is provided in its outer end portion with an axially disposed socket 14 for receiving the inner end of a match or other part 15, which carries an ignitible substance at its outer end. One side portion of the enlargement of the plunger is cut away, as shown at 17, to expose a side of the socket 1 1 to facilitate the insertion of a tool to eject a match 15 therefrom should its outer end portion be burnt off to a point within the socket. The loop or cross section of the yoke 8 is in register with the reciprocatory movements of the igniting agent 15, 16 and is intended to coact with the igniting end of such agent to effect a lighting thereof upon an inward forcing of the plunger 13.

The outer end of the plunger 13 is provided with a head or enlargement 18 and encircling the plunger with its opposite ends thrust against said head and the outer end of the plug 9 is a coiled compression spring 19, which acts on the plunger to normally maintain it in the retracted position shown in Fig. 3.

In the starting or effecting of an initial explosion within an engine cylinder equipped with my invention, the plunger 13 and its carrying plug 9 are removed from the body member 4, the screw 11 being turned for such purpose, and a match or other suitable igniting agent inserted within the inner socketed end of the plunger. This being done the plug and plunger are replacedwithin the body member 4 and the screw 11 turned to secure the plug in fixed relation to such member. The crank shaft is then given a turn to draw a charge into the combustion chamber of the cylinder and is stopped with the piston in charge-compressing position, or in the position which it should assume upon the firing of a charge. This having been done the operator throws the plunger inward with sufiicient force to cause the ignitible substance 16 to be ignited .by its contact with the registering portion of the yoke 8, thus causing a consequent ignition of the compressed charge within the cylinder. It:

is found in practice that the explosion thus obtained will impart from 5 to 15 revolu tions to the crank shaft, which should be suilicient to start an engine if it is in Working order.

I wish it understood that my invention is not limited to any specific construction or arrangement of the parts except in so far as such limitations are specified in the claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

A device of the class described comprising a body member having an axial bore therein and provided at one end with a. striking'surface in longitudinal register with said bore, a plug removably mounted in the opposite end of said member and having an axial opening therethrough and a circumferential groove, a part threaded transversely through a portion of the body member and adapted to engage at its inner end within the groove of said plug,a plunger movable through said plug and adapted to carry an ignitible agent at its inner end in position to have striking contact with said striking surface, and a spring normally retaining the plunger at the limit of its outward movement relative to the plug. a

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JACOB F. TATEN. Witnesses:

F. E. Ann, E. E TI-IOMAS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. i 

